Just recently, I took a nose dive into the festivities of Carnevale, a traditional festival that is most notably known as the Mardi Gras of Venice, Italy. Maria & Enzo’s, an Italian restaurant that sits in the heart of Disney Springs, hosted a festive and quite delicious event called Carnevale. Not only did the restaurant manage to bring the essence of Venice’s Carnevale right here to Orlando, but they also brought the culinary cuisines of Italy along with them.

As I entered Maria & Enzo’s, I was immediately engulfed in Mardi Gras-like decor. The restaurant was whimsically decorated for the event and boasted various entertainment acts as well. Men and Women on high stilts were dressed in Italian attire with carnival-like masks and costumes. Face painters roamed the restaurant as they gleefully painted guests’ faces, and a violinist serenade us by our table side as we took our seats. Immediately we promptly began to order. Between February 22nd to March 5th guests who visit Maria & Enzo’s have the option of trying their 5-course menu called Feast Of Carnevale.

From a starter, to a second, to desert, the menu allows guest to select an entire 5-course meal for only $45. I decided to go with the delicious Italian meatballs and calamari as starter plates and the seared flounder fish as my main course.

As we steadily devoured our food, live acts began to perform from within the restaurant’s atrium. Italian remedies and songs were authentically performed—I truly felt as though I was transported into Italy for the night.

Small booths were dotted around the restaurant, and one in particular was occupied by a custom mask painter. A list of custom mask designs were available for my picking, and the black and gold mask seemed to be my winning choice. In under 5 minutes my custom mask was painted by Maria & Enzo’s mask painter, and for the rest of the night I sported it as I shouted “Carnevale!”  in my most Italian accent as my colorful carnival beads swung around my neck multiple times.

Make sure to stop by Maria & Enzo’s before March 5th to experience the life of Carnevale! – David Plowden, David’s Manor.